The present invention relates to a fishing reel in which a fishing line guiding device (also referred to as a level-wind device) for guiding the winding of a fishing line in parallel around a spool is provided between side plates in front of the spool.
In general, with the fishing reel of the above-described type, if a winding operation of a handle is performed, a line guide of a fishing line guiding device installed in front of a spool reciprocates left and right. Since the line guide is formed as an elongated hole or a round hole to allow the fishing line to be inserted therethrough, if the line guide reciprocates left and right in conjunction with the winding operation of the handle, the fishing line is wound in parallel to the rotating spool.
During the releasing operation of the fishing line, the fishing line which is paid out from the spool is released forward through the line guide while moving in the left-right direction and bulging upward, so that there is a problem in that the casting distance decreases due to the effect of the contact resistance produced between the fishing line and the line guide.
Accordingly, to solve such a problem, Japanese Patent No. 3403618 discloses a structure in which the line guide includes a fishing line inserting portion which is upwardly open and a pair of horizontal fishing line guiding portions respectively provided so as to extend outward, and end portions of the horizontal fishing line guiding portions are respectively fitted in arcuate fitting holes formed in side plates.
According to the line guide of such a structure, since the upper side of the fishing line inserting portion is open, the contact resistance with the fishing line bulging upward from the spool can be alleviated during the releasing of the fishing line, thereby making it possible to prevent a decrease in the casting distance.
In the fishing line guiding device of the fishing reel disclosed in the above-described Japanese Patent No. 3403618, the structure provided is such that a slider body which reciprocates left and right is provided between left and right side plates on the rear side of the spool, and a transmission rod is coupled to this slider body. The transmission rod extends from the rear side of the spool toward the front side on the lower side of the spool, and a central portion thereof is rotatably supported by a lower portion (leg portion) of a reel body.
Namely, since the structure provided is such that a rear-side end portion of the transmission rod is coupled to the slider body on the rear side of the spool, and a front-side end portion thereof is secured to the aforementioned line guide on the front side of the spool, a clutch changeover member cannot be disposed between the side plates in the rear of the spool. Hence, there is a problem in that the line releasing operation which involves the thumbing operation after turning the clutch off cannot be performed easily.
In addition, since the transmission rod of the fishing line guiding device is mounted on the lower side of the spool of the reel body, and the line guide and the slider body are mounted in a distributed manner in the front-back direction of the spool, there is a problem in that the reel body becomes large in size.